Warriors' Bazemore clutch in summer-league game

Kent Bazemore is fouled as he puts up a shot against Chris Singleton of the Wizards. The Warriors won 56-52.

Kent Bazemore is fouled as he puts up a shot against Chris...

Las Vegas --

The Warriors' first summer-league opponent took the court with three first-round picks, including two who were top-six choices, and the MVP of the NBA Development League Finals.

But the Warriors walked out of Cox Pavilion on Saturday with a 56-52 victory and with an undrafted free agent who had outproduced all of the Wizards' higher-profile players.

Kent Bazemore scored a game-high 21 points, including a three-pointer that sparked the Warriors' 17-7 game-closing run. He had team highs in rebounds (five) and assists (three), added two steals and a blocked shot and committed only one turnover despite playing stretches as the team's primary ball-handler.

"He's certainly a guy who we have a lot of confidence in," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. "I thought he separated himself in order to win this ballgame."

Bazemore scored only five points in the first half, focusing on shutting down No. 3 overall pick Otto Porter Jr., who went 3-for-13 from the floor. In the second half, the Warriors' 6-foot-5, 195-pounder scored 16 points, added two steals in the final 2:22 and found Dwayne Jones for a dunk that made it 55-52 with 18.7 seconds remaining.

After being named the nation's top defender at Old Dominion, Bazemore went undrafted in 2012, but he earned a non-guaranteed deal with the Warriors with an electrifying summer-league effort.

The Warriors have until Aug. 1 to decide whether they want to pick up his $789,000 contract for 2013-14, and team sources said they're approaching the decision as though Bazemore is a lock to be on the roster.

"I can't do that. That's one thing I can't do," Bazemore said. "I don't want to let down, at all. I want to be the best that I can, and the only way to do that is to approach it as if I'm working to win a job."

Bazemore has been training as if he were homeless all offseason. He has barely left the Warriors' downtown Oakland training facility, working out nearly every day with assistant coach of player development Joe Boylan, who is trying to teach Bazemore the intricacies of playing point guard.

The two watch video of Chris Paul, Tony Parker and James Harden. Then, they hit the floor and use cones and chairs to mimic pick-and-roll defenders and test to see whether Bazemore will make the right reads.

When he made perfect passes on back-to-back possessions against Washington, Bazemore and Boylan locked eyes and shared wide smiles.

"I'm not going to lie, it was kind of tough early, but it's good that it's coming through right at the right time," Bazemore said. "There are still days when I go into the gym and stink it up on pick-and-roll reads, but I'm hoping to perfect it. ...

"There are times when they can see the frustration all over my face. I expect nothing but greatness from myself, and I come down hard on myself. It affects people in the wrong way, so it's something I'm learning to fix, as a person and as a player."